8 THEBIGISSUE9–22JAN2015
“I couldn’t bat, I couldn’t bowl, I
couldn’t field, but I could sledge,
and I think I held my place in the
team on this basis.”
Surprising no one, Prime Minister Tony
Abbott on the strengths he showed as
a pugilistic cricketer during his student
days at Oxford. A bit of light-hearted
banter, sure, but sledging? It’s just
not cricket, and should be left where it
belongs. In parliament.
– ABC
“Way back when – you know
’20s, ’30s, ’40s, ’50s – people got
married a lot right out of high
school because they’re trying to
have sex, so they want to lock it
up and get married. They were
maybe rushing into marriages
that they’re not vetting out,
versus today, people are getting
married a lot later.”
Marina Sbrochi, author of Stop
Looking for a Husband (2011), on
the reason divorce rates may be going
down: more people are getting married
in their thirties. The oft-quoted statistic
that 50% of marriages end in divorce
was a projection based on statistics
from the early baby boomer generation
that has not held true.
– Huffington Post (US)
“Once humans develop artificial
intelligence, it would take off on
its own and re-design itself at an
ever increasing rate. Humans
who are limited by slow biological
evolution, couldn’t compete and
would be superseded... I think
the development of full artificial
intelligence could spell the end of
the human race.”
Famous astrophysicist Stephen
Hawking on his concern that smart
robots, most likely voiced by Scarlett
Johansson, could spell the end of all of
us. Happy New Year everybody!
– BBC (UK)
“It has nothing to do with The
Beatles at all. Let It Be is a bunch
of garbage. As I say in the book,
[Phil Spector] puked all over it.
I’ve never listened to the whole
thing, I’ve only listened to the first
few bars of some things and said,
‘Oh, forget it.’ It was ridiculously,
disgustingly syrupy.”
The Beatles’ sound engineer Glyn
Johns, while promoting his book
Sound Man, on what sound producer
and convicted murderer Phil Spector
did to the album Let It Be (1970). Let
it be, Glyn.
– NME (UK)
“One thing that is quite
interesting to me is how poor
Western governments are at the
moment – and I don’t exempt
mine from this – how poor they
are at understanding what’s going
on in the world.”
Former UK PM Tony Blair on the
general knowledge score of current
Western governments. Those
governments, including the one led by
‘the other Tony’, must be glad Blair is
still around to tell them what’s really
going on.
– Vanity Fair (US)
THERE IS NO GUARANTEE THAT SOME
STUPID DALAI LAMA WON’T COME NEXT,
WHO WILL DISGRACE HIMSELF OR
HERSELF. THAT WOULD BE VERY SAD. SO,
MUCH BETTER THAT A CENTURIES-OLD
TRADITION SHOULD CEASE AT THE TIME
OF A QUITE POPULAR DALAI LAMA.
The Dalai Lama, whose real name is Tenzin Gyatso, conceding it may
be better for the title to die with him than be passed on to some Dumb
or Dumber Lama. Buddhists believe each Dalai Lama is reincarnated in
the body of a child identified by Buddhist priests in Tibet.
– Time (US)
HEARSAY
WRITER RICHARD CASTLES » CARTOONIST ANDREW WELDON
“It’s just tomato sauce
with dirt in it.”
A child explaining to her friend at
a picnic what barbecue sauce is.
Overheard by Rachel of
South Melbourne, Victoria.
EAR2GROUND
PHOTOGRAPHBYCHRISTOPHERFURLONG/GETTYIMAGES;CARTOONBYANDREWWELDON